Users want video downloads on the TV

A recent report by Accenture, surveying over 10,000 users across the globe, …

Users want more control over the content they watch on their television sets according to an Accenture report released this morning. Over 10,000 Internet users were surveyed in China, South Korea, Italy, Canada, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Germany, United States and Japan—with 1,609 being from the United States—to get a feeling for what consumers want in their future "digital homes. The results found that nearly half (47 percent) of those surveyed in the US want to be able to download movies, TV shows, and other video content to their television sets, with even more of those surveyed globally (54 percent) wishing for such technology.

Having become accustomed to sites like YouTube, Google Video, and other Internet video services, consumers have expressed a strong desire to have a similar viewing experience on their TVs. Even the convenience of digital cable and on-demand video isn't enough, as users increasingly want to exercise the same degree of control on their televisions as they have watching video on a PC. Kumu Puri, a partner with the Communications and High-Tech segment, told Ars that consumers are ready for new ways of consuming media. "What rose to the top was watching movies, TV shows, and other video content on the PC," said Puri. "One of the most unmet needs was the ability to download that type of content and watch it on the television."

Before such technology begins to invade our living rooms en masse, however, tech companies and service providers need to overcome some challenges. Consumers show a great deal of frustration with the complexity of technology available to them and the poor service they seem to receive for it, according to the report. "Consumers are very frustrated with the complexity that they face, trying to make everything work together and getting the right help to figure it out" said Puri, going on to point out that consumers don't want to spend money and time getting everything to work together, they would rather it either (to borrow a phrase from Steve Jobs) "just work" or at least have tech companies provide enough useful help to get it to work.

Consumers are even willing to pay extra for such services, with the majority of respondents indicating that they'd cough up some cash for help in product installation, technology support, service to back up data, service to monitor PCs, and the ability to call tech support.

Pricing is also a factor for most consumers—in fact, it is the number one concern among those surveyed, outweighing all other factors. Puri said that there is currently such a high degree of commoditization in the market that hard for providers to differentiate themselves, but that they could easily do so by providing better services at a decent price. "A lot of people are waiting to buy stuff because of price or because they think it'll get easier or better," she said, pointing out that consumers want to adopt cutting-edge technology in their homes and living rooms but feel overwhelmed with what they consider to be too expensive or too complex options.

Despite so many shortcomings, the Accenture report says that a huge majority of American consumers still believe that technology has made their lives easier and more fun. So can downloaded video content really take off on the TV? It seems that if tech companies and service providers get on the ball regarding ease-of-use and pricing in the years ahead that the answer to that question would be a resounding "yes."